Middle Assyrian Laws

Document Text

Tablet A

A1. If a woman, either a man’s wife or a man’s daughter, should enter into a temple and steal something from the sanctuary in the temple and either it is discovered in her possession or they prove the charges against her and find her guilty, [they shall perform(?)] a divination[?], they shall inquire of the deity; they shall treat her as the deity instructs them.

A2. If a woman, either a man’s wife or a man’s daughter, should speak something disgraceful or utter a blasphemy, that woman alone bears responsibility for her offense; they shall have no claim against her husband, her sons, or her daughters.

A3. If a man is either ill or dead, and his wife should steal something from his house and give it either to a man, or to a woman, or to anyone else, they shall kill the man’s wife as well as the receivers [of the stolen goods]. And if a man’s wife, whose husband is healthy, should steal from her husband’s house and give it either to a man, or to a woman, or to...